


How Steve and Tony Got Together

by ShadowHaloedAngel



Series: Camellia sinensis [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Awkwardness, Developing Relationship, First Date, First Kisses, M/M, Snarky Jarvis, Steve and Tony are both inept, adorableness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-17
Updated: 2013-03-17
Packaged: 2017-12-05 14:51:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/724538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowHaloedAngel/pseuds/ShadowHaloedAngel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Part of the Camellia sinensis series, and so set in the same universe as Tea For Two: How Steve and Tony both got their heads out of their asses, took Bruce's advice and finally had a long overdue talk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How Steve and Tony Got Together

Tony was more than a little aware that this had the potential to go hideously wrong. He had put a lot of thought into it, it wasn't that, it wasn't his usual ill-prepared scramble in some vain attempt to cover his tracks and not make an ass of himself... far from it. He had put about as much thought into this as a military operation. And he knew. He spent time with military people, even if he had never exactly planned a military operation himself. And he knew that they took a lot of planning.

He had managed to use the prospect of a code upgrade to bribe Jarvis into getting him details of Steve's art supplies of choice, as well as what he was running low on. Using that information, he had then searched for the nearest art supplies store to the tower. He combined the intelligence, gained through the most fiendish of espionage, into a casual wander one lunch time for what should have been a simple business exchange. Except of course that he was totally out of his depth. Luckily the salesgirl had been very understanding, very patient, and hadn't just catered to his every whim simply because he was Tony Stark. Other than Pepper and Natasha, she might just have been the most sarcastic and efficient woman Tony had ever met. He had been half tempted to offer her a job. 

That really hadn't been the point of the exercise though, and he had walked home with feet that were increasingly leaden. He had actually gone out and bought the gift now. Of course, he could always just try giving it to Steve anonymously, except there was a good chance his tech would rat him out, because apparently Jarvis' first loyalty was not to his creator, the man who slaved for him, had brought him into this world, taught him, crafted him... no, his first loyalty was to the group of people who made the aforementioned creator's life difficult. Tony had yet to ascertain precisely how they were bribing his tech, but once he found out, he was going to be having /words/.

Here he was, though, two days later, in the closest to smart he ever got when he wasn't being forced to dress up for some function that required an appropriate (or, more likely, semi-appropriate) public face. The jeans were almost clean, but they fitted him well, and the t-shirt was freshly laundered. It had, admittedly, seen better days, but it was, at least freshly laundered. That had to count for something. He had even washed the engine grease out of his hair. He actually felt like some kind of human being. It was unnatural. But he had to at least attempt to make a good impression. It wasn't like every other attempt to make a good impression on the Captain had ended in a complete shambles, after all... 

He knocked. He knew Steve was in his room, he had forced Jarvis to check on the pretence of some routine security scan. He really didn't want to have this confrontation in a public space. Or in the gym. Definitely not in the gym. The gym meant that Steve was sweaty and in that tight white t-shirt which showed off all of his muscles in /just/ the right way, and those pants which clung to the curve of his ass which Tony was almost prepared to swear should be absolutely and completely illegal. Much as it pained him to admit it, after hours of careful study and consideration (in some cases, using a mirror) he had been forced to conclude that Steve's ass was even nicer than his own. And that just wasn't fair. Except that, to be honest, Tony really couldn't quite find it in his heart to mind too much. 

Breathing. He knew how to breathe. It was subconscious, it really wasn't something anyone should have to focus on to this degree. Except of course, that if he didn't focus on it, he would be thinking about the fact that he was about to ask Captain Americ-... Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers, out on a date. And that said blond bombshell, all six foot something of him, was about to answer the door with that smile that would make braver men weep. And so Tony made sure that the basic rhythm was maintained. In... out... in... out... count between each breath, don't hyperventilate, stay calm. If you don't stay calm, when you talk, words won't come out. We know this from past experience. In... Out...

The door opened, and for a long moment he stood there, frozen, like a rabbit in the headlights. Oh, god, he was perfect, he was so-... was he blushing? He was blushing. And Steve Rogers looked adorable when he blushed. Those eyes, Tony would happily swear he could fall into those eyes, and /every/ /single/ /time/ he saw those lips he had to glance away before his own face caught fire. The box under his arm seemed a petty offering to a man like this, but Jarvis had made it infinitely clear on several occasions that Captain Rogers did not appreciate Tony's habit of throwing money at things. Of all things he needed to adjust to, that had been possibly the hardest thing of all to wrap his head around. 

Tony had spent his whole life throwing money at problems to solve them - well, money or tech. Usually money. He had never been the kind of person which people wanted to be around, wanted to spend time with. At college, it had been those who wanted the lavish gifts and the fame of being associated with him when he had been too young to know better who had spent their time on his arm, flirting, seducing - though never as blatantly as those who tried it these days. If he wanted company, he had to buy it, that was what he'd learned. If he bought the best gifts, the kinds of things people wanted but couldn't afford for themselves, then they would stick around. The problem was... they always left in the end. He didn't want Steve to leave. He would happily have exhausted his coffers if it meant Steve would stay with him. Steve didn't work like that, though. 

Steve was a man of honour, and one who had never had much money. He didn't place much importance on material things, even with all the years of back pay he had saved up he was still reluctant to buy himself the art supplies he so loved using. Extravagance made him uncomfortable. It was wasteful. It was unnecessary. There were so many people who needed food, shelter, money for themselves and their families that he couldn't justify spending excessive amounts on what he viewed as luxuries. Or even essentials. It wasn't that he went automatically for the cheapest things, he also appreciated quality and didn't like the way so many modern things broke so quickly. He wanted his things to last. Make do and mend had been the philosophy even before the war, and it was how he had grown up, the polar opposite of the disposable attitude Tony had been raised with. Nothing was irreplaceable. Nothing, at least, until he had somehow acquired the closest approximation to a real family he had ever known, and then it had become clear that some things in life had a price far beyond that of money.

"Tony?"

There was his voice, shocking Tony out of the reverie he had somehow fallen into. 

"Oh hi Steve, um fancy seeing you here not that there's any reason you shouldn't be here, this is your room after all, I mean there's no reason at all not to be in your room it's meant to be a really nice place to be after all, I worked hard on that, wanted it to be the kind of place you'd like to be, that was the plan at least or something, anyway hope I didn't interrupt you doing anything important or anything, I wouldn't want to have disturbed you or... whatever, but I brought you some... uh... paints. They're... the kind you like, I sort of got Jarvis to have a look because I didn't want to mess this up or anything so I hope they're... okay... and everything...." 

He waved the box towards the super soldier, who took it, still blinking, but smiling now. His blue eyes danced as he barely fought back the urge to laugh.

"Thank you... that's really kind of you Tony, why don't you come in? I have something I've been meaning to give to you, too... "

Tony blinked a few times until those words percolated through into his brain, and then nodded rapidly.

"Uh, sure! Yeah, sure that'd be great, thanks Steve, I... yeah..."

He followed him through into the quiet calmness of Steve's quarters. He'd renovated it during the rebuilding of Stark tower, or Avengers tower, as it was now. He'd made sure that all of their quarters had been tailored to everything each member of the team could want, hoping that maybe if he got it right, maybe then they'd stay and he could hold on to this illusion of a family he'd somehow acquired. 

It had a hardwood floor, and the walls were a calm pale blue. There was an easel set up, and bookshelves with non fiction and novels from the last seventy years to help Steve catch up on everything he'd missed. He'd furnished it the best he could. When Steve had moved in, though netiher of them ever mentioned it,Tony was pretty certain he'd seen some tears in eyes bluer than the sky itself. 

He didn't linger in looking around, though, and moved through into the little seating area that passed for a private living room. He didn't sit, just hovered awkwardly. Steve followed him in, and moved to a shelf that was packed with art supplies of various kinds. He set Tony's offering on it almost reverently, then looked around, picking up a little bottle that had been lying on the side, cradling it in both hands before he offered it to Tony after a slight hesitation. 

"Um... here... I... I think it's the right kind for Dummy's joints... well, You and Butterfingers too, but... I asked... um and Jarvis told me what to look for. Obviously I know it's not much, but I'm hoping it's still-"

"No, no it's perfect, it's... thanks, that's really kind of you..." Tony was blushing, he knew he was blushing, he hated that he was blushing. Nobody else made him feel like this, noone, ever, and he hardly knew what to do about it. 

"I... uh... I just... wanted to get you something useful and stuff, but... what do you get the man who has everything, right?"

Steve's smile was honest, but somehow tight, and Tony's eyes were bright as he stared for a long moment.

"Steve, I-"

"I don't really know how to say it Tony, I'm not... that great with words. I definitely don't have the kind of skill you do, or Natasha does... but I... there's something I've been meaning to say to you for a long time... and I... it's been really hard to work out how to say it, what to say... I... guess I just want to you to know that I... like you. A lot."

Tony did not know what he had been expecting at any point. He didn't know what he'd been expecting when he went to meet Steve in the first place, he didn't know what he'd been expecting when he'd been invited in, when Steve had given him a gift, and when he'd been interrupted, Tony /really/ hadn't known what to think. He knew what he hadn't been expecting though, and that, right there, what had just come out of Steve's mouth, that was it. That was exactly what he hadn't been expecting. And so he stood there and stared, mouth open, as he tried to actually process what had just been said to him, almost as if he was rebooting. 

"I... Steve I don't... there's... um... I've kind of... been meaning to say something for... uh... for a while... I... was going to... I've never... I don't know how relationships work, I've never had one, I don't know them... I don't really know what it's like to actually be with someone... in that kind of way. I don't... but I want to find out... I want to... try it. Because I... really like you. A lot. I've... liked you for a long time. I just didn't think you were interested."

And there, there was the all-too-familiar flash of concern, of almost hurt in Steve's eyes. Tony /always/ managed to put it there, and it made him want to be sick. This time, though, he had no idea what he'd done wrong. Before he could protest, before he could begin to apologise, Steve was beside him, arms around him, lips covering Tony's own, cutting off his protests.

"Whatever I did to give you that impression, I'm sorry. I... really really like you, tony. I think you're incredible. You just... leave me speechless, so often. I wasn't going to say anything, I was scared to... that it would ruin our friendship, but... uh... Bruce kind of-"

Tony burst out laughing, he couldn't quite help it, and buried his face against Steve's perfect chest. 

"You spoke to Bruce too, huh?"

"Yeah, I wasn't sure whether... I thought that guys who liked guys were okay now... but I wanted to- wait, too?"

"Yes, too, I went to talk to him about being lovelorn and hopeless... he told me to get my head out of my ass."

"He said more or less the same to me..." Steve admitted, a little shamefaced, then smiled and kissed him, soft and sweet.

"Have you really been looking at me when I've had my back turned?"

"Are you kidding?! Have you /seen/ your ass?!" Tony grinned, and Steve turned bright red and poked his nose. 

"Yours isn't half bad either."

"Right... so, uh..." Tony glanced away for a moment "...where do we go from here?"

"I guess..." Steve nuzzled him "We date? People still do that, right? Date?"

"Yeah, totally, people still do that, people still date... so... uh dinner? Does dinner sound good?"

Steve smiled and kissed him again, nodding as he ran his thumb over Tony's cheek.

"Yes, dinner sounds very good."

"Great. Um. Tonight?"

"Tonight is fine..."

"Seven?"

"Seven is good..." Steve's smile was so wide it almost split his face in two. 

"Great, so I'll see you then..."

Tony couldn't quite help himself from stealing one last kiss, and he practically skipped out. He had a date to get ready for!

**Author's Note:**

> Here is the long awaited bonus work! Although most of the story will be told in the main work through those little snapshots of interaction with work, there are a few things that I figured needed more detail and deserved proper explanation of their own, that's why I made the work a series. Here is the first of those little more indepth parts of the story, I hope you enjoyed this exploration of Steve and Tony's relationship!


End file.
